Dr Neil Dawson

Research overview

My research interests are focused on further understanding the mechanisms through which genetic and environmental risk factors for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease impact on brain functioning, behaviour and cognition. I also have a primary interest in developing and validating translational preclinical models for these diseases for utilization in the drug discovery process, in the hope that we can use these models to identify novel drugs to treat these disorders.

PhD supervision

I am able to supervise students undertaking research projects in the field of systems neuroscience, translational psychiatric drug discovery and behavioural neuroscience.

Current Research

My current research projects include:-

Understanding the mechanisms through which genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders alter brain and neurotransmitter system functioning, and also how these impact on cognition and behaviour

Understanding the mechanisms through which genetically determined alterations in serotonin transporter expression alter the likelihood of developing depression and other affective disorders

Applying network science and related algorithms to functional brain imaging data gained in a preclinical context to further understand how brain functioning is altered in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders

Research Interests

Work in my laboratory is focused on utilizing preclinical models based on aetiologically relevant genetic and environmental risk factors for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases to further understand the mechanisms through which these risk factors impact on the brain, behaviour and cognition. This includes elucidating how these risk factors impact on the connectivity of brain networks and on connectivity between the different neural subsystems within the brain. My work also aims to elucidate how these risk factors impinge on the functioning of neurotransmitter systems known to be dysfunctional in these psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases. In addition, utilizing these preclinical models in my laboratory we aim to validate novel drugs for the treatment of these diseases by assessing the ability of these compounds to reverse the deficits in brain function, connectivity and behaviour seen in these models.

Current Teaching

I currently teach on the following modules:

BIOL 121 - Anatomy and Tissue Structure

BIOL 284 - Practical Physiology

BIOL 462 – Molecular Biology Skills

Additional Information

I was appointed as a Lecturer in Biomedicine with the Faculty of Health and Medicine in September 2013. My background is in Neuroscience (B.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D., University of Edinburgh) but more recently my research has involved the application of mathematical algorithms to complex biological data sets, including brain imaging and metabolomics data, to gain greater insight into how these biological systems are disrupted in psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. My current research collaborators include: Prof. Judith Pratt (University of Strathclyde) and Prof. Brian Morris (University of Glasgow), Prof. Desmond Higham (University of Strathclyde), Dr Paul Kelly and Dr Henry Olverman (University of Edinburgh).